Isaiah 40:21-20 and Mark 1:29-39

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’

— Mark 1:35-27

In Silence -- a poem by Thomas Merton

Be still.Listen to the stones of the wall.Be silent, they tryto speak your

name.Listento the living walls.

Who are you?Whoare you? Whosesilence are you?

Who (be quiet)are you (as these stonesare quiet). Do notthink of what you arestill less ofwhat you may one day be.

Ratherbe what you are (but who?)be the unthinkable oneyou do not know.

O be still, whileyou are still alive,and all things live around you

speaking (I do not hear)to your own being,speaking by the unknownthat is in you and in themselves.

“I will try, like themto be my own silence:and this is difficult. The wholeworld is secretly on fire. The stonesburn, even the stones they burn me.How can a man be still orlisten to all things burning?How can he dare to sit with themwhen all their silence is on fire?”

1) These sermons were recorded live with my congregation. I am in interactive and intuitive leader. 2) I don't ask you to agree with me. I don't preach for people to agree with me. I do ask for you to be open and reflective and willing to be challenged. 3) I am a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. I preach from the pulpit out of this tradition -- grace as the bottom line. But I have to say: my church is not responsible for what I say.